The Lion's Heir
by Lizzy3
Summary: Some relatives of Dumbledore are brought into a world they have previously not known. I am not too good with the whole summary thing. R&R!


Ella rolled over in her bed. Her red hair sprayed across the grubby pillow. Her brother sat beside her, watching, ever watchful. He had seen things turn soar too many times to trust any situation. He pinched himself painfully on the arm to keep himself awake. Unfortunately, the past few sleepless nights weighed on his frame too heavily to resist. He felt his eyes droop and, try as he might, he couldn't keep himself awake.

"Anny, Anny, were you here all night?" Ella shook his arm, a worried look on her face. He jerked awake and looked at her strangely for a moment.

"Um, I, well, I didn't mean to fall asleep." She looked at him reprovingly.

"I'll be fine if you sleep in your own bed you know. _We're_ fine here. I don't know why you have to be so paranoid." He glared at her and she glared right back. "Come on or we'll be late for breakfast."

He shoved his arms through a green jumper and pulled on jeans over his pajama bottoms. She already had her school skirt on and her shirt buttoned. He followed her down the stairs and into the kitchen. She was right, this wasn't a bad place. Not compared to the other places they had been at least.

"Good morning Mrs. McCrady," Ella greeted the chubby woman at the stove with a smile.

"Good morning," the woman answered distractedly. Mrs. McCrady had five children of her own and had taken on a couple of extras. She was a kind, god-fearing woman albeit a bit out of it. Mr. McCrady was seldom home. In fact, Anny and Ella had only met him on one occasion.

They sat down at the table where a group was already assembled. Ella immediately started in conversation with a McCrady around her age, Martha. Anny stared glumly down at his breakfast. Ella seemed to get along with everyone while Anny was a lot more reserved. Many saw his reservation as cruelty or pretension. It, in fact, if Ella was right in her assumptions, a defense mechanism. She did not remember all he remembered. This was due, in part, to their five year age difference and partly because he had shielded her from all he could.

Anny shoveled his porridge in before racing up the stairs to put on his school uniform. He liked school half the time. He liked Science, Math, and Music but the other subjects were Greek to him (including Greek). His teachers assumed his poor marks in the other subjects were due to laziness. That didn't make his school life any easier. Ella was good at everything.

He pulled on his suit and tied his tie tightly around his neck. Try as he might, he couldn't keep his hair in order. He looked like his father, or at least he looked like the picture he had of his father. He was tall and slim with curly brown hair and crystal blue eyes. Ella looked more like their mother, petite with wavy red hair and deep, blue eyes. They shared eyes and little else.

"Anny," Ella called up the stairs. "We have to leave!" With one more disdainful look at the mirror, he grabbed his books and raced down the stairs. "The others rode to school today but I thought we should walk. There are already too few seats." Anny nodded and they set off down the road to the school. "So, how many nights have you stayed up?" Anny looked down at the road. "Come now, answer me." Ella gazed at him questioningly. Anny looked up at her; she looked so much older than her 10 years.

"Four," he answered barely audibly.

"No wonder you fell asleep during lunch yesterday," she clucked her tongue. "Why must you worry so?" He gave her a knowing look and she sighed. "It was more of a rhetorical question really. The McCrady's are nice people; you needn't fear."

"I can't help it," he answered.

"I know but you're going to drive yourself into the ground and then where would I be?" she smiled brightly, trying to cheer him up. He gave her a half-hearted smile. She was so unbelievably cheerful all the time that it sometimes drove him crazy.

"What was that?" he questioned suddenly.

"What was what; I didn't hear anything." Ella looked at him as if he had flowers growing out of her ears.

"There it is again." This time Ella _did _hear it. There was a definite rustle in the bushes. Anny grasped Ella's hand frantically.

"It's probably just an animal of some sort." Anny ignored her. He was staring intently at the bushes. "Let's go," just as Ella was about to pull her brother toward the school building four hands shot from the bushes. Before they could scream, hands snaked around the two young mouths. Anny still grasped Ella's hand.

"You mustn't be afraid," a soothing, old voice whispered in his ear. "After we are safely out of ear shot of everyone I will allow you to speak all you wish." Anny tensed. They were being taken out of earshot. He tried to convey some courage to Ella but he didn't feel any. Their two captors lead them to a cave in the middle of nowhere. They had used bits of cloth to gag him and Ella. The one who lead him was very large, and brutish who looked to be more giant than man. The one who lead Ella was old and thin with a long beard and half-moon spectacles. He was the one who had spoken.

Once to the cave, the two men untied them. "So, it has been far too long Brahnan." Anny was taken off guard. No one called him by his full name. How did this old man know it? As if reading his mind, the old man spoke again. "Yes, I know who you are and I know a might bit more than just your name." Anny looked at the man in a mix of horror and amazement.

"W-who are you?" he implored, stuttering slightly. The man chuckled.

"You are as brave and head strong as your father."

"Y-you knew our father?"

"Of course Ariella, I knew your father like no one knew him. I am _his _father." A silence took over the group. After a very shot eternity Anny spoke up.

"Why did you not come for us before if you are our grandfather? Why did you leave us in the care of monsters?" The anger was rising in him, the same anger he had felt in the orphanages and foster homes. "Were you too lazy to get us before?" The words seemed to sting the old man.

"It was not laziness dear boy. No, it was for your protection. I cannot explain it all here. Will you go with us to a more secure place?" Anny looked at him skeptically.

"Prove you are our grandfather."  
"Name the question."

"I have several if you do not mind." The old man nodded. "What was my father's full name?"

"Ewan Oliver Dumbldore. Your mother's name was Lucille Aderyn Black."

"What's my father's birthday?"

"The twenty third of June."

"Mine?"

"The fifteenth of September."

"What's your name?"

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore at your service." The old man gave a bow. Anny gave a nod.

"We'll go with you that you might explain the situation further." Dumbledore gave him a bemused smile. Dumbledore (the old man) had decided to take the train to London, hoping not to shock his grandchildren with magic too early. It was a couple mile's walk to the train station (from which they of course would take a magical train). Hagrid offered to carry Ella who gladly accepted. This left Anny with Dumbledore.

"So, Brahnan, is that what people call you or do they call you something else?"

"Anny, at least, that's what Ella calls me."

"Ah, well, Anny, you'll be sixteen in September correct?" Anny nodded. "I remember when my Anny turned sixteen. By then he was quite infatuated with Lucy, your mother. I gave him a very special gift." This peaked the young boy's interest, try as he might to ignore it (his interest). He had never really heard anything about his parents past the legalities: their birthdays, death day, full name, etc. "I gave him a bird, a phoenix." Anny's eyes grew large.

"I-I didn't think those things really existed!"

"I assure you they do. It was a magnificent creature. He named it after your mother: Cilley as not to confuse his Lucy and his bird. After, well, after…." Dumbledore trailed off and looked out across the field. He and Anny walked in silence.

"Excuse me, but won't the McCrady's miss us? We were supposed to be at school." Anny interjected. Dumbledore smiled.

"They know where you are, or, at least they know _with_ whom you are."

The giant, who Dumbledore introduced as Hagrid, got many odd looks at the train station. They bought their tickets at an out-of-the-way booth which Anny thought was odd. He looked down at the ticket. It said, in shiny green letters, Platform 3 ½ to London from Mallaig. He was about to ask Dumbledore what the ticket was on about but he was quickly pulled toward the third and fourth platforms. He tried to pull away as they were headed straight for the barrier. Just as they were about to hit it they were in another room. A brilliant, yellow train stood chugging on the tracks in front of him. He looked imploringly at Dumbledore who looked away and lead him onto the train.

It was a very nice train. It hadn't very many compartments as it was very small but the compartments it did have were very posh. Dumbledore handed their four tickets to the ticket master and they found a compartment. Only one other passenger was in the train so they had their pick of the other four compartments. "Are you hungry?" Dumbledore asked. Anny shook his head but Ella nodded vigorously. "Alright dear, we'll get you some food." Anny was still bewildered. Everything was happening so fast.

"Why are we going to London?" he asked as it was his least confusing question.

"There is a place in London or near London that will be more, well, I'll be able to talk to you there. We'll set off from London after we get there."

"How did we, um, well, the ticket…."Anny drifted off. He had so many questions he didn't know quite where to begin.

"This, well, I suppose I should explain a bit now. It is a rather long train ride. Do you have any memory of your parents?" Anny reached back into the deepest recesses of his brain: to the place where he kept his most treasured however disturbing memories.

"I-I remember a bright light and long sticks. Mother and Father both had long sticks that seemed to hold some power. I remember them taking us to the orphanage one night. I didn't know what was going on. The next morning a nurse came in and said they had died." An involuntary tear slipped down his cheek. He could still see his mother's tear stained face. He remembered his father's words when they left.

"Brahnan, Anny, you are in charge now. We will probably not return though we wish to with all our hearts. You must take care of your sister. We love you; that will never change, never."

"Your parents were killed by a rouge group of Death Eaters, ones who still believed in Voldemort's powers."

"Who is Voldemort and what are Death Eaters?" Anny asked, entirely baffled. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach. He had an ever increasing dread that this was merely the tip of the iceberg in regards to the things he didn't know.

"Listen and listen closely. Those sticks your parents had, the ones you remember, they are wands."

"Wands, how silly! There's no such thing as magic." Ella exclaimed. She had never been one for fairy tales.

"On the contrary my dear. You have quite a bit of magic in you. I know."

"So you're saying there is such a thing as magicians and wizards. Witches and unicorns are real?" Anny asked incredulously. Dumbledore nodded.

"We are wizards," he gestured at the four of them. "Well, Ella is a witch and Hagrid is half giant but we are wizards."

"If I have magical powers why wasn't I able to change our situation. If my parents were wizards why did they die?"

"Magic does not solve every problem Anny," Dumbledore replied gravely. For a brief moment Anny had believed that his problems were over. His stomach sank again.

"How do we know that magic is real?" Ella asked pointedly.

"How did we get on the platform?" Dumbledore asked. Ella was at a loss for words.

"Harry didn't believe either, the first time I told him," Hagrid spoke up for the first time. Ella looked up at him.

"Who is Harry?"

"A boy close to Anny's age," Hagrid replied. "He is also a wizard and an orphan."

"Why have you brought us with you now? We are not wizards. I've never done magic in my life."

"Yes you have. Haven't you ever been so angry that something broke without a reason?" Anny blushed. He had once shattered a toilet when it refused to flush.

"I think I may have but that wasn't necessarily magic; it could have just been coincidence. Can you show us some magic?" Ella stated matter-o-factly. Dumbledore nodded. He drew out his wand. It was sharp and slender, perfectly polished. Hagrid visibly winced at it's glint. The children did not know the power it held.

"Accio," Dumbledore said, pointing at a bit of rubbish on the ground. It zoomed into his hand.

"Wow!" Ella cried, clapping her hands. Dumbledore grinned and pointed at it again.

"Evenesco." The rubbish vanished meriting another squeal of amazement from Ella. Dumbledore's grin grew wider. It had been a long time since he had smiled last.

"So it is real then? Do you know Cinderella's fairy godmother?" Ella was so eager that Dumbledore guffawed, not a chuckle, not a laugh but a real guffaw. He shook his head vigorously, tears coming to his eyes.

"Not that I remember my dear."

The rest of the train ride was fairly uneventful. Despite his internal protests, Anny fell asleep. Ella and Hagrid played a card game that Hagrid had unearthed from his pocketed coat. Dumbledore looked out the window, remembering. Anny seemed to be a lot like his mother. His Anny wasn't the only one who had fallen in love with Lucy. He knew she was perfect from the first time he saw her. She complemented his son perfectly. She was the eggs to his benedict, the salt to his pepper. It was then that that pesky little feeling arose in his chest once again. He had suppressed his grief for so long…. He had loved them. Not just his son and Lucy. He had loved the whole package, the whole family package. Maybe he could regain it, even if it was just a blurry replica of it…..

A/N- I've taken a rather sizable break from fan fiction. I got this idea and thought I'd run with it. It's been a long time since something came so easily so I hope you enjoyed it. I think I'll continue it (along with my other stories, don't worry). Well, Review and Go in Peace!


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